Monday, 12 September 2016

It’s all been a bit manic this season on the reserve; A good
selection of waders so far has been excellent and great that the lagoons and
the marshes are pulling their weight again.As the inverts build up it should keep getting better, and we presume
that some of the regular individuals on passage will remember it is a good food
stop and tell their pals for future - perhaps like the four avocets the other day and welcome turnstone on the 11th which are maybe rounding off this years wader passage:

The main emphasis though has been on the new reception hide for the reserve.We’ve been hinting at
this for long enough without giving much in the way of formal declaration –
simply because we were unsure on when it was going to occur largely due to
budgets (Yorkshire Water very kindly funding) and our species protection
obligations.The window arose this June
and it was very suddenly all systems go which is great news – and even better
that the habitats are back up to past glories to compliment it.

Whilst our volunteer teams know the score, many other observers don't know the whole picture - so sit down and set aside 10 mins for enlightenment!

It’s maybe a bit extreme to say that we built the structure
around a pair of binoculars – but it certainly got us thinking.The Norris family were regulars in the early
days (sponsors of the original North Marsh hide) and bequeathed us a pair of
Swarovski binoculars.On arrival these
monsters were more geared for watching the CCCP coming over the Steppes and really
needed their own self-propelled carriage.We had nowhere suitable to mount them as they required a fixed
mounting point over a big habitat like D res to make the most of them against the aggro of setting them up - for the old wildlife centre meadow they'd have been a bit OTT!:

It’s fair to say the facilities evolved over 40 years at
Tophill and were often hand me downs and quick fixes.The early hides were well built by volunteers
in many cases, but often with untreated timber due to budget constraints and some
are now meeting the end of their lifespan.We’ve spent a considerable sum patching up D res hide over the years but
it’s approaching the end of its life:

It’s also the first hide most new visitors to the reserve go
to – and this is their first experience of the reserve:

No natural light, small apertures and poor access mean that
without optics and interpretation it can be difficult to appreciate the
reservoir as more than a ‘concrete tank’ to some.

Likewise the paths leading from the car park are pretty
bleak to the uninitiated.The northerly
route takes 500m to ‘enter’ a habitat and suffers from shared use by vehicles ripping and muddying up the surface:

That’s for those who don’t turn west and do the 1km D res
straight as their first experience:

Going south takes a trip back through the car park, past the
residential area, access road traffic and water works security fences before reaching north lagoon:

Multiple options and routes from the car park with no
natural flow meant that people were lost as soon as they’d arrived:

We can get negative comments that
there is ‘nothing there.’Our regulars
and the site lists dispute this, and the thousands of photos online would suggest
otherwise.And herein lies another
problem.The internet gives instant
access to amazing shots by our photographers, and there is an expectation that
you can arrive at Tophill on a Sunday afternoon, get out the car and see an
otter / kingfisher / barn owl / snake.Thus visitors without the equipment and the knowledge can leave
dissatisfied - the zoo mentality, the 'ipad' press of a fingertip gratification, or the highly distilled TV production creates an unrealistic expectation.A short attention span
from a lack of stimulation leads to noise and looking over reservoir walls
disturbing the wildfowl and other users, and leads to subsequent conflict with our volunteer teams and nobody wins.

Not a problem some would say; It puts people off and keeps them away.The tragedy is though to see
younger potential enthusiasts turned off from nature, even though they may have
been buoyed up by what they watched on Springwatch the night prior or saw on
Facebook that morning.In a time when
people are becoming detached from nature we need capture the imagination and
passion of people getting into birding and the natural world and get them
hooked.Tophill is a cracking place with
year round wildlife spectacle – people just need to be awakened to it.I see it every week when I take people on
escorted trips round, great wonderment at what is here that they never would
have seen alone.The trouble is how to
do it for all visitors.

We need people to appreciate the value of the reserve
universally so it can be protected from pressures that aren’t nature
observation and conservation driven. We are in a time of growing population and the pressures of curiosity unchecked will compound the above issues to the ultimate detriment of wildlife. Regardless of habitat and species management we need to manage humans for wildlife even more so.

An earlier attempt to do this was the old wildlife
centre.This was a conversion of the
former social club for the Water Works in the 1990’s and was fair to say was
quite progressive in its time with good interactive displays (especially the
remote camera when it worked), interpretation panels and a useful meeting room:

Time moved on and the building didn’t (the toilets were
pretty unmentionable with an umbrella needed indoors sometimes) – a simple
refit perhaps?

The problem was more deep seated than this though; the
structure was full of asbestos meaning a complete professional removal of the
internal structure back to the shell:

We could potentially have replaced it at the same spot, but
the problem was its location.It wasn’t
on the way to anywhere and didn’t look over anything (feeders excepted – these
were great but could be anywhere – more on this later).Looking at peer reserves the core building
invariably looks over a major habitat; Whereas we looked at the back end of the
water works. Yet just across the car park we have views and birds like this:

In the old centre regulars never went in,
visitors didn’t know it was there – no matter how many signs were erected
(people don’t read signs – fact!).This
meant that it was a pretty grim place to volunteer staff – Old Ray used to, and
spent many a lonely Saturday talking to nobody.In a nutshell this building was great when there was a cricket pitch and
a bar, not so good for a wildlife centre.

This created the next issue; the Warden’s base.Because the reserve and car park couldn’t be
administered from the wildlife centre it was instead wardened from the former
grounds maintenance shed in the car park:

We’ve got an excellent team of knowledgeable and very
dedicated volunteers who will readily show people what’s about and where
to go.But this to the uninitiated could
be visually intimidating on arrival and again damage people’s experience before
they ever got to a habitat.If we could
take this social atmosphere and move it somewhere where visitors could interact
and exchange information and sightings it would become a much friendlier place
and be an asset itself.

The Hull Valley hut housed the sightings books, but again
was perhaps another complication for where people started their visit.Invaluable for regular birders but useless
for visiting beginners, we needed to show people what there is to see and where
to go more clearly.

So that got us up to 2013; four failing buildings and none of them
complimenting or working.We’d set
funding aside at this time but not enough to get us a new hide.The most pressing need was toilets and warden
facilities given the imminent demise of the old centre.We reconditioned the wardens base and old
grounds maintenance hut as the long term site toilets – basically as they were
already on a mains connection, so visually it would complement the new
building:

It was never intended to solve the intrinsic problems of
visitor flow – just keep us operational in the interim and provide long term
toilet and reserve management facilities.

So with new funding approved by OFWAT in 2015 we set about
the main event; the new Reception Hide.First off it’s a reception hide because ‘visitor centre’ comes with its
own baggage.People often think visitor
centre and view it as a combination of TIC and tired display.This is a hide, with several combined
functions, but has a clear purpose; The first hide you visit to view one of our
best habitats, showcase what is here and where to go next.

In the first instance we wanted to sort the perpetual
problem of the mystified visitor.There
will soon be one way only to get on to the northern reserve; and in the near
future the entire reserve.The main
entrance and pay hut will be just past the former HVWG hut (to be removed) and
will instantly immerse you into the nature reserve.No walking hundreds of yards – instead
straight between the two balsam poplars acting as gate guardians to the site:

There’ll be no access north out the car park bar an exit
only gate for those returning from D res straight.Good
for treecreeper and tawny we intend to create a good thicket of hazel, dogwood here in
combination with bellflower and other woodland plants.

Straight away you’re ascending height to an eventual +3.2
metres.The whole premise is the
building needs to be two story to see over the res wall:

As such we want and indeed need to provide
disability access to a 1st floor height.Wooden ramps are out as they are a proven
maintenance liability.Lifts are out
likewise as there may not be anyone there when it breaks.So instead we scaled up north marsh
hide.Some of you may remember our 2009
project to replace the original dilapidated north marsh hide with the current
highly acclaimed version. In line with
our current activity initially a scene of devastation back then:

The pond quickly colonised and the surrounding new planting
and woodland work delivered breeding willow tit:

So we did the same here; we cleared an area of windblown
larch to create a large glade in the woodland:

Colonised by spectacular foxgloves all this seeded topsoil was salvaged
and is now on the ramps, and rosette stage foxgloves saved and moved:

We then used clay subsoil excavated from a new wildlife pond
(seemingly known as ‘D woods mere’ given its colossal proportions) to create
the new disability compliant access ramps in and out the hide.They’ll give an interesting eye to eye view of birds in the oak tree
canopy:

They were never intended to be quite so gargantuan, but
flood risk consents as part of the planning process stipulated the ground floor
height was elevated, and as such so was the height and base of the ramps.This has meant the base of several trees has
been covered (We’ve always retained the oaks in preference) – we will scallop
around them where we can though some may succumb.Regardless there are a great many new trees to plant – particularly sub
story species to give better nesting and feeding habitat.Our volunteers have been carefully tending
plants grown on in our new polytunnel set up, where possible from seeds
collected locally to vegetate the landscaped areas and create a riot of
botanical interest.Native bluebell,
snowdrop, wild garlic and foxgloves will have good coverage with many more
woodland specialists besides:

The pond itself is up to 2m in deep in places and was
largely excavated from the 1950’s clay spoil as a result of the reservoir
excavations:

It’s still being finished
but there is already 30cm of water and an array of inverts in there:

Greater diving beetle, southern hawker, ruddy
and common darter are already present and correct and ovipositing:

And even a slightly over-optimistic kingfisher and the odd mozzie!:

Seeing the new pond develop will be really interesting
(although to our derision marsh frog was about the first colonist!).A new pond dipping platform to go in is
already in waiting.We’re never under
the illusion this is going to have smew drifting across it and likely will house a tolerant moorhen or two; It’s going to be
high traffic particularly with the picnic tables relocated here (a much better
outlook than the car park) and means they will be reserved for the use of
actual reserve visitors being ‘inside’ the reserve .Therefore fish
are being kept out bringing nothing to the party (as long as possible) and the
emphasis is on inverts.A nice sun trap
it’ll be great for draggies and water vole and newts should do well too.We will however pre-empt the blanket coverage
of reed-mace by establishing notable reserve plants like greater water parsnip
and greater spearwort so people can readily enjoy some of our best botanical
interest in an accessible location.

We ran out of clay so approximately 50% of the ramp
material is recycled material from the construction of the WTW nitrate plant in
2013:

Entry to the hide is on the first floor across a veranda
area with a view over the pond and even to the river Hull (a question we are
always asked is where the reservoir water comes from; now it’s in eye
shot).

We’ve done an awful lot of
in-depth thinking with our appointed Architects Group Ginger of Leeds about
user groups and how we can better help beginners and visitors enjoy the reserve
without sacrificing the enjoyment of our long term experienced regulars.To the left will be a standard hide.No frills, no interp and no help.It’ll house the sightings books and give an
unimpeded by glass view for optics by serious birders looking at the gull
roosts and wildfowl.Cantilevered out,
the hide will be nice and quiet and take the place of the former car park hide
(to be cannibalised and demolished this autumn – we expect a touching tribute blog
post from Martin).

Centrally will be the stair head for access to the lower
floor and meeting room with ground floor access for disability - to give us space for groups and talks like we have attempted to hold in our currently limited facilities:

Externally the wall upstairs combines a
display screen for the what’s about boards – meaning we can illustrate with
pictures exactly what species are here.

To the right is the viewing gallery:

Prior to this point the view to the D res
will be impeded meaning the initial view for anyone new walking into the room will
be spectacular ,overlooking the big expanse of water that many in East Yorkshire
do not realise is here.As its glass
we’ve done a lot of research looking at anti bird strike designs and the
windows themselves are ‘Ornilux’ – a specific product with a pattern invisible
to the human sight spectrum but betrays its presence to birds as a glaring
pattern.We’ve also been very careful on
backlighting and silhouetting so that human figures do not disturb the wildfowl
in front.As the whole structure sits
closer to the res and slightly higher at +50cm on than the old hide it should give a lot
better views of birds previously invisible under the wall.But to help with viewing we intend to have a
few optical aids – not least the monstrous bino’s to assist.A couple of scopes will be rigged up during
Wardened opening, one of which will be linked to a digi scoping cam relaying
pictures onto a big screen.So hopefully
no more, “it’s out of focus / its swum out of shot / I’ve knocked it” when
trying to get on that scaup or black necked grebe.

TV is also the order of the day all
round.With some excellent and welcome
help from our volunteers we have repaired the old South Marsh pan tilt and zoom
camera – meaning we can simultaneously view here, and already the D res osprey
platform and barn owl cameras we have rigged up.We’ve already watched spoonbill on remote
camera this year and been able to observe the previously unacknowledged south
marsh summer lesser black backed gull roost in infra-red night vision:

Also great for finding spotted crake (If
anyone’s ever interested in them again after the North Cave one!).

Ultimately we want to be able to bird the whole reserve from
here – showing people what can be seen if you know where and how to look. We also reckon it could be handy for the gull roost extending viewing beyond natural light and giving the option of viewing birds on O res at the same time as D.

As it’s got commanding views across
the reserve it should yield more intensive birding and more sightings of the
undoubted countless species which pass through unseen at present. With a better presence of observers, kit to view and plenty of literature and the internet to hand, we hope that viz-migging will be a reality and a new dimension for the records. And for the ultimate close in we’ll be making
a return of the glazed bird feeder window like the old centre which was so popular
– on to dedicated feeders outside the side window, where there’ll also be the
chance for unimpeded photo ops round the corner from a viewing screen.

A question we are very often asked is ‘will there be a
café?’The answer is no.We’d blur the lines too much – we are a
nature reserve; people that come are doing so to see nature.We’re also far too out in the sticks to be
viable on a cold weekday morning in December – there’s good facilities up in
Cranswick that do that well already.We
do intend to have basic catering of self-serve hot drinks during wardened hours
as that’s a sensible and repeated request.The bulk of heating will be by log burner – we throw willows on bonfires
all winter so it seems sensible to make sustainable use of bio fuel for heat and tea.So hopefully gull watching in winter should
be in a cosy environment; though for those whom prefer purgatory the option’s
still there next door!

The intention is that this will be a great place both for
observers and volunteers to base from as opposed to set-ups of old.We have a great team of volunteers, but we will
be on the look-out for people who can help us with giving a little of their time
to watch birds, talk to and inspire people about birds and watch telly, all
whilst drinking tea!If you think you
have what it takes please get in touch.

Likewise if you think you can help out practically we always
need assistance.We’re doing a lot of
work with building paths and woodland management, and also a lot of
horticultural work propagating new plants and extending the butterfly garden.It may seem cheeky asking for help when we
are investing in the new building, but really we’ve put everything into getting
the structure right to the exhaustion of all else.Our Hull based project managers Mason Clarke
associates have been doing a great job in keeping everything within our limited
budget, and it’s great to see Hull based firm Houlton’s doing the construction
using near all East Yorkshire based contractors.Everything else not in the build is on a
shoe-string so paths, cameras, woodland work, trees, plants, interp design is
being delivered with the help of volunteers.
That goes down to pulling the nails out of thousands of reclaimed Japanese beech floorboards from the old centre dancefloor for laying in the new building, sourcing display screens and furniture on ebay (including picking up a CCTV tower from Slough!), and already having built 170m of new paths with shovels and mini tractors:

The new paths will be around the woodland behind the car
park and give an instant wildlife experience to observers new and old.Gone will be the muddy route marches, instead
bank on taking 5 times as long to cover the same distance taking in a variety
of wet woodland habitat that instantly takes you to the
wild Hull Valley of pre-drainage times, home to water voles, otters, bats and
dragonflies - and the need to spend much time birding and looking as opposed to marching to the next hide.

Punctuated on a short
circular walk will be several stop offs, focussed at the new and younger
enthusiast with grass snake heaps, mammal tracking points and more.However we’ve given serious thought and respect to our
users at Tophill and certainly don’t want to lose or alienate our established
naturalists and photographers.Stray
beyond this point and you’re on your own with no help or assistance.We know full well many come to Tophill
because it is quiet and wild; so the hides like North Marsh will continue to be
places of solitude as before.There is a
stat I recall stating 80% of visitors to the countryside don’t walk more than
100m from their car, which is quite believable (and account for many negative perceptions
at Tophill if that’s their radius!).The
concept is an easy appreciation of Tophill’s wildlife within 100m for all, and
wild nature for the next 1000m beyond it.

We also hope it links in with the investment in nature reserves across East Yorkshire at present, as driven under the Nature Tourism Triangle project - to create a momentum, wildlife spectacle and experience in the region that encourages people to visit and stay in the area boosting up the nature tourism economy.

We intend to be functionally complete by around Christmas
with all the new cameras and paths open in time for our ‘Water Works for
Wildlife Weekend’ on the 17th and 18th of June 2017.This will be a free open weekend and feature
a number of activities and exhibitions much like our ‘BBC Summer of Wildlife’
open day in 2013, and is something we hope to make an annual feature – given
this is when the best of the orchids are on the go, the kingfishers active and
the breeding birds in full flow.

So a bit of a mammoth posting – and this is a summary!.In total we’ve been carefully developing this concept
for 8 years with a lot of thought, with the hope it will both change everything and nothing depending
on what you want out of a visit to Tophill.

A couple of warnings; the path to North Marsh will be
restricted on September the 13th and some days wc the 19th during
work hours for construction.It can
still be reached but via the circumnavigation of D res!.

Tophill Low Nature Reserve is an active Yorkshire Water Treatment Works built in 1959. It formally opened as a Nature Reserve in 1993 and features 12 hides spread across a 300 acre site that flanks the River Hull.

The two reservoirs - 'D' and 'O' dominate the reserve and have SSSI status for their massive wildfowl numbers. Around the perimeter a network of marshes, ponds, woodlands and grasslands result in an annual 160+ bird species, with over 60 readily visible even in mid winter.